Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:20): My question is for the Minister for Health and relates to access to abortion services in the public health system in Victoria, particularly for those who cannot afford to pay for them privately. You may recall I asked a similar question last year when you were acting for the Minister for Health. You gave me a whole bunch of answers around more training at the women’s hospital, 1800 My Options and new family planning hubs. So I am just wondering: in the last year have we seen an increase in the availability of terminations in the...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:06): My question is for the Special Minister of State. The Crown allegations are not going away. On Monday we had a former employee detail instances where he had witnessed illegal activity on almost a daily basis. On Tuesday we saw footage leaked by whistleblowers within the regulator itself, the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, showing large-scale money laundering activities at Crown. Today we have revelations of a businessman blacklisted by the United Nations and Australia because he funded a war criminal being aided by Crown into the country to gamble. I tried to force the Parliament to debate...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:56:24): My constituency question today is for the Minister for Police and Emergency Services. Recently I met with Peta Ferguson from North Melbourne. She has an acquired brain injury and is absolutely brilliant as an advocate through her work with Brain Injury Matters, which is a self-advocacy resource unit. Brain Injury Matters aims to empower people living with an acquired brain injury by providing peer support to alleviate the isolation and marginalisation experienced by people with an ABI. Peta and her colleagues are of the view that there should be more training for police, prison officers and PSOs on ABI...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:21): My question is to the Minster for Small Business. The level crossing in Reservoir—High Street and Spring Street and Broadway and Cheddar Road— is currently under construction. It started in late November 2018, and I do agree: I am very pleased to see it finally happening. But Reservoir traders were told by the Level Crossing Removal Project team that their businesses would only be affected in short three- and four-day slots. However, four weeks ago that changed and High Street traffic was completely blocked from the Broadway and Edwardes Street shopping strips and will be blocked until Christmas....

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (13:04:35): My question is to the Minister for Roads and Minister for Road Safety and the TAC. Recently I met with a group of concerned traders called Revitalise Nicholson Street. They are a passionate group from local businesses who are attempting to ensure that the popular and bustling Nicholson Street in Carlton North keeps innovating and upgrading to ensure the future success of all traders. One of their main concerns is that there is a 60-kilometre-per-hour speed limit in the area of Nicholson Street between Scotchmer and Park streets. It seems out of step with other 40-kilometre-per-hour precincts in the...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:56): My question is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure. I have been meeting with community as well as the team from the Level Crossing Removal Project in relation to the designs for the upgrades to the Upfield line. Of specific interest to the community is the area around the Gandolfo Gardens. I had been told that extensive community consultation would take place before the release of the plans around the gardens. This seems to have not taken place, and I was quite surprised to see plans in the Age yesterday. It showed that trees would have to be...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:27): My question is for the Minister for Health. Minister, the music festival season starts in just a few weeks and the Andrews Labor government still has not agreed to a pill testing trial, an initiative that we know can contribute to keeping young people safe. We saw overdose statistics come out just today that say that overdoses now cause more deaths than road accidents. My question to the minister is: how many dead young people will it take for the minister to recommend a pill testing trial at major festivals? One? Three? Ten? How many?   Ms MIKAKOS...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:16): My question is for the Minister for Agriculture and follows on a little bit from my good colleague Mr Quilty. The Victorian government has been growing cannabis since 2016, and it has also licensed the Cann Group to provide flower and resin to it also. Given the relatively quick growth cycle of this plant, this means that there is quite a stash somewhere. I do not know where, but what I do know is that Ava, a young girl with epilepsy, is left desperate, and if her parents are to provide the life-saving medical cannabis it will...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:52:41): My constituency question is for the Minister for Health. My constituent has been diagnosed with chronic pain disorder, which for her evolved out of severe endometriosis, which required a number of surgeries. Despite having a successful career, she suffers silently with daily pain as well as severe and debilitating attacks. She is not alone. One in five Victorians are affected by chronic pain. Nationally 3.24 million Australians live with chronic pain, resulting in $73.2 billion annually in lost productivity. Despite its prevalence, my constituent continues to feel stigmatised, particularly by those in the medical profession. Interactions with medical professionals...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:03): My question is for the Minister for Local Government. Unlike other local governments in Victoria, Melbourne City Council automatically requires businesses to vote in council elections. Not only that, corporations operating in Melbourne city are allocated two votes in the poll. When a company does not appoint its own representatives the council automatically enrols company office-bearers, and many of those companies are offshore. This means that scores of overseas companies are literally casting the deciding votes on Melbourne City Council elections. What steps is the minister taking to ensure that Melbourne City Council elections are operated...